SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Saint Mary's Men's Soccer scored early and kept the pressure on Sacramento State, winning 3-2 on Thursday night over the Hornets.
 
The Gaels (4-1-2) struck in the fourth minute when Riley Lynch took the ball away from the Hornets defense. Lynch pounced on a slow pass from one defender on the far wing to another defender in the middle, that may have been deflected by Wade Muttitt.
 
Lynch took the slow roller off the defender's foot, got around the right side of the keeper and left-foot dominant striker used his right foot this time to kick a shot in the open net for a 1-0 Gaels lead on his team-leading fourth goal of the season.  
 
Sac State (3-4) would even things up on an odd play in the sixth minute. A long through ball downfield bounced near a Hornets attacker and a Gaels defender and took a strange bounce towards the goal. The Sac State forward stuck out his leg as he slid to the ground and poked it in to tie things up at 1-1.
 
But Saint Mary's would reclaim the lead for good though in the 10th minute. Tyler Hardin led the charge up field for the Gaels before passing the ball to Lynch in the middle. From there Lynch fed a perfect pass through the Hornets defense to Wade Muttitt, who raced past the defense and in one motion booted a right-footed shot into the lower right corner of the net to make it 2-0 SMC. The goal was Muttitt's second of the year, it was Lynch's team-leading fourth assist, and Hardin's second helper on the season.
 
Sac State would push ahead to try and answer again just a few minutes later, but Louis Sterobo stepped up to make a huge block and preserve the SMC advantage. The Gaels would take the 2-1 lead into the half and threatened multiple times to increase their lead before making it a two-goal game in the 67th minute.
 
Timothy Stephens hopped on a loose ball in the Gaels end of the pitch and fed a pass up field for Maxwell Farnum. The sophomore from San Jose possessed the ball all the way to the edge of the six-yard box, shielding off one defender and shooting around another into the top right corner of the net for a 3-1 Saint Mary's lead. The goal was Farnum's first of the season, while it was the third assist of the year for Stephens.
 
Saint Mary's maintained that two-goal lead until the 89th minute when Sac State managed to get one more goal, but the Gaels kept the Hornets from mustering up more offense from there and held on for the 3-2 win.
 
The Gaels fired off 19 shots overall on the night with nine on goal. It was their third-highest shot total of the season.
 
UP NEXT:
The Gaels will play at UC Davis on Sunday, September 17 at 4:00 p.m.